Now, that’s certainly a depressing Google search! But is loneliness something that all writers have to suffer?

Read my Guest Blogger piece on ABC Open for my top 5 tips on how to turn writing into less of solitary hobby and more of something enjoyable you can share with others – and you’ll find that the quality of your writing will improve at the same time.

Today at work I realised there was dog hair on my desk. And I know exactly where it came from.

Despite the dog never actually visiting my place at work, he somehow manages to send tufts of fur with me wherever I go. At a café having lunch with my friends, I’ll notice black fur on the table in front of me. In my dad’s car there’ll be some on the seat, even though my dog has never traveled with my dad. It’s even been found stuck to clothes that I pull from the very back of my cupboard that I haven’t had out since before I got the dog.

Just how does one dog manage to drop so much fur?!

I have to admit, we’re not the smartest people in the world. Our house is decorated in neutrals: white tiles, beige carpet and white walls. And we decide to get a black dog.

A big black Labrador that, according to my husband, should be almost bald by now.

There’s black fur everywhere in our house. And I mean everywhere. When my husband vacuums, the dog follows him around the house, dropping just as much fur as what was sucked up the vacuum. Often it’s even more.

And the dog only has to look at our rather expensive light cream lounge for it to need cleaning.

Sometimes when I’m eating my muesli in the morning, I look down and see a dog hair floating in the milk. I guess people who aren’t dog lovers would find this rather gross, and would even be tempted to throw the whole bowl out. Well, I’m going to admit something here that might shock you: sometimes I take the time to fish it out (often adding more new hairs to the bowl than were there to begin with), and sometimes I choose to turn a blind eye. Shocked?! Maybe it wasn’t a dog hair after all? It could have been an almond sliver or a cranberry. Yes, I’ll convince myself it was a cranberry just so I can eat my breakfast in peace.

I’m due to have a baby in four weeks. How old do you think our child will be before it has a dog hair stuck to it somewhere?

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the baby has one or two in there already…